CHAPTER XXII.

=Eggs and Milk.= [Illustration] TO PRESERVE EGGS FRESH FOR MANY WEEKS. AS soon as possible after the eggs are taken from the nests, brush each one separately with a thin solution of gum Arabic, being careful to leave no portion of the shell uncovered by it. The half of each egg must first be done and left to become dry, before the remainder is touched, that the gum may not be rubbed off any part by its coming in contact, while wet, with the hand as it is held to be varnished, or with the table when it is laid down to harden. _Obs._—Eggs will remain fit for use a very long time if carefully kept; but attention should always be given to the cleanliness of the _shells_ before they are stored, as when these are soiled, and then excluded from the air, they will sometimes become very offensive. Those which are collected immediately after the harvest are the best both for eating and for putting up in store: they should be collected in dry weather when they are required to be kept.[153] Footnote 153: For a sea-store, an old and experienced cook from on board a man-of-war, directs eggs to be rubbed with salt butter, and packed in layers with plenty of bran between them. He says that the salt penetrates the shell, and tends to preserve the eggs, which will require no additional salt when eaten. We give the information to the reader as we received. TO COOK EGGS IN THE SHELL WITHOUT BOILING THEM. (_An admirable receipt._) This mode of dressing eggs is not _new_; it seems, indeed, to have been known in years long past, but not to have received the attention which its excellence deserved. We saw it mentioned with much commendation in a most useful little periodical, called the _Cottage Gardener_, and had it tested immediately with various modifications and with entire success. After many trials, we give the following as the _best_ and most uniform in its results of our numerous experiments. First, put some boiling water into a large basin—a slop-basin for example—and let it remain for a few seconds, then turn it out, lay in the egg (or eggs), and roll it over, to take the chill off the shell, that it may not crack from the sudden application of heat; and pour in—and upon the egg—_quite boiling_ water from a kettle, until it is completely immersed; put a plate over it instantly, and let it remain, upon the table, for twelve minutes, when it will be found perfectly and beautifully cooked, entirely free from all flavour and appearance of _rawness_, and yet so lightly and delicately dressed as to suit even persons who cannot take eggs at all when boiled in the usual way. It should be turned when something more than half done, but the plate should be replaced as quickly as possible. Two eggs will require scarcely more time than one; but some additional minutes must be allowed for any number beyond that. The process may always be quickened by changing the water when it has cooled a little, for more that is fast boiling: the eggs may, in fact, be rendered quite hard by the same means, but then no advantage is obtained over the old method of cooking them. 12 minutes. _Obs._—This is one of the receipts which we have re-produced here from our cookery for invalids, on account of its adaptation to the taste generally. TO BOIL EGGS IN THE SHELL. Even this very simple process demands a certain degree of care, for if the eggs be brought from a cold larder, and suddenly plunged into boiling water they will frequently break immediately, and a large portion will often escape from the shells. In winter they should be held for an instant over the steam from the saucepan before they are laid in, and they should be put gently into it. Three minutes will boil them sufficiently for persons who like the whites in a partially liquid state. Five minutes, _exact time_, if they be fresh and fine, will harden the whites only, and leave the yolks still liquid. Few eaters require them more dressed than this; but eight or ten minutes will render them _hard_. Eggs should always be cooked in sufficient water to cover them completely. To boil _very_ lightly, 3 minutes; to render the whites firm, 4-1/2 to 5 minutes; hard eggs, 8 to 10 minutes (15 minutes for salad dressing.) TO DRESS THE EGGS OF THE GUINEA FOWL AND BANTAM. [Illustration] The eggs of the Guinea-fowl—which are small, very prettily shaped, and of a pale or full fawn-colour (for in this they vary)—are much esteemed by epicures, being very rich and excellent eating. They are generally somewhat higher in price than the common hens’ eggs, even in Norfolk, Suffolk, and other counties where they most abound; and in London they are usually expensive. They may be cooked in the shell _without boiling_ by the method we have already given: eight or nine minutes will cook them so. About three and a half of gentle boiling will render the whites firm, and ten will harden them quite through. They are often served instead of plovers’ eggs, and are sent to table embedded in moss in the same manner. They may also be shelled, and used whole to decorate a salad. The eggs of the bantam, which are scarcely more than half the size of these, and of which the shells are much thinner, will require less time to cook. They form an elegant decoration for a salad, if boiled hard, which they will become in five or six minutes; and for a mince of fowl, or veal and oysters, when poached. Two minutes’ poaching in an enamelled saucepan[154] will be sufficient for these delicate little eggs, without positive boiling. They should be carefully broken and put gently into water at boiling point, but which has ceased to move, and left undisturbed by the side of the fire until the yolks are just _set_ on the surface. Footnote 154: In any other kind, an additional half minute may be required. Guinea-fowls’ eggs, quite hard, 10 minutes. For eating (by new method, 8 to 9 minutes), 3 to 4 minutes. Bantams’, hard, 6 minutes; soft, 2-1/2 to 3 minutes. TO DRESS TURKEYS’ EGGS. Turkeys’ eggs are not, we believe, brought very abundantly into the London market,[155] but their superiority to those of the common fowl is well known in the counties where the birds are principally reared. Though of large size they are delicate in flavour, and are equally valuable for the breakfast-table—cooked simply in the shell—or for compounding any of the dishes for which hens’ eggs are commonly in request. They make super-excellent _sauce_, omlets, custards, and puddings; and are especially to be recommended poached, or served by any other of the following receipts. Those of the smallest size and palest colour, which are the eggs of the young birds, are the best adapted for serving boiled in the shells: they are sometimes almost white. Those of the full grown turkeys are thickly speckled, of a deep tawny hue or fawn colour. Footnote 155: Constant supplies of them are brought from France to the towns upon the coast; and from the thickness of their shells they remain eatable much longer than the common eggs; they are also reasonable in price. 6 minutes will render the whites firm; 4 minutes will poach them. FORCED TURKEYS’ EGGS (OR SWANS’). (_An Excellent Entremets._) Boil gently for twenty minutes in plenty of water, that they may be entirely covered with it, five or six fresh turkeys’ eggs, and when they are done lift them into a large pan of water to cool. By changing the water once or twice they will become cold more rapidly, and they must not be used until they are perfectly so. Roll them in a cloth, pressing lightly on them to break the shells; clear them off, and halve the eggs evenly lengthwise. Take out the yolks with care, and pound them to a smooth paste in a mortar with an ounce and a half, or two ounces at the utmost, of pure-flavoured butter to the half dozen, a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a little finely grated nutmeg, and some cayenne, also in fine powder: a little mace,—one of the most delicate of all seasonings when judiciously used—may be added with good effect. Blend these ingredients thoroughly, and then add to them by degrees one raw hen’s egg slightly whisked, and the yolk of a second, or a dessertspoonful or two of sweet rich cream. One common egg is sufficient for four of the turkey egg-yolks. Beat up the mass, which will now be of the consistence of a thick batter, well and lightly, and proceed to fill the whites with it, having first cut a small slice from each half to make it stand evenly on the dish, and hollowed the inside with the point of a sharp knife, so as to render it of equal thickness throughout. Fill them full and high; smooth the yolks gently with the blade of a knife, arrange the eggs on a dish, and place them in a gentle oven for a quarter of an hour. Serve them directly they are taken from it. The eggs thus dressed will afford an admirable dish for the second course, either quite simply served, or with good gravy highly flavoured with fresh mushrooms, poured under them. The same ingredients may be pressed into very small buttered cups and baked for fifteen minutes, then turned on to a dish and sauced with a little _Espagnole_, or other rich brown gravy, or served without. _Obs._—We would recommend that the whites of swans’ eggs, which as we have said are extremely beautiful, should be filled with the above preparation in preference to their own yolks: they will of course, require longer baking. TO BOIL A SWAN’S EGG HARD. Swans’ eggs are much more delicate than from their size, and from the tendency of the birds to feed on fish might be supposed; and when boiled hard and shelled, their appearance is _beautiful_, the white being of remarkable purity and transparency. Take as much water as will cover the egg (or eggs) well in every part, let it boil quickly, then take it from the fire, and as soon as the water ceases to move put in the egg, and leave it by the side of the fire—without allowing it to boil—for twenty minutes, and turn it gently once or twice in the time; then put on the cover of the stewpan and boil it gently for a quarter of an hour; take it quite from the fire, and in five minutes put it into a basin and throw a cloth, once or twice folded, over it, and let it cool slowly. It will retain the heat for a very long time, and as it should be _quite cold_ before it is cut, it should be boiled early if wanted to serve the same day. Halve it evenly with a sharp knife lengthwise, take out the yolk with care, and prepare it for table, either by the receipt which follows, or by that for forced eggs, Chapter VI. SWAN’S EGG, EN SALADE. We found that the yolk of the egg, when boiled as above, could be rendered _perfectly_ smooth and cream-like, by mashing it on a dish[156] with a broad-bladed knife, and working it well with the other ingredients: the whole was easily blended into a mass of uniform colour, in which not the smallest lump of butter or egg was perceptible. Mix it intimately with an ounce or two of firm fresh butter, a rather high seasoning of cayenne, some salt, or a teaspoonful or two of essence of anchovies, and about as much of chili vinegar or lemon-juice. To these minced herbs or eschalots can be added at pleasure. Fill the whites with the mixture, and serve them in a bowl two-thirds filled with salad, sauced as usual; or use them merely as a decoration for a lobster or German salad. Footnote 156: We chanced, when we received our first present of swan’s eggs, to be in a house where there was _no mortar_—a common deficiency in English culinary departments. TO POACH EGGS. Take for this purpose a wide and delicately clean pan about half-filled with the clearest spring-water; throw in a small saltspoonful of salt, and place it over a fire quite free from smoke. Break some new laid eggs into separate cups, and do this with care, that the yolks may not be injured. When the water boils, draw back the pan, glide the eggs gently into it, and let them stand until the whites appear almost set, which will be in about a minute: then, without shaking them, move the pan over the fire, and just simmer them from two minutes and a half to three minutes. Lift them out separately with a slice, trim quickly off the ragged edges, and serve them upon dressed spinach, or upon minced veal, turkey, or chicken; or dish them for an invalid, upon delicately toasted bread, sliced thick, and freed from crust: it is an improvement to have the bread buttered, but it is then less wholesome. Comparative time of poaching eggs. Swans’ eggs, 5 to 6 minutes, (in basin, 10 minutes.) Turkeys’ eggs 4 minutes. Hens’ eggs, 3 to 3-1/2 minutes. Guinea-fowls’, 2 to 3 minutes. Bantams’, 2 minutes. _Obs._—All eggs may be poached _without boiling_ if kept just at simmering point, but _one boil_ quite at last will assist to detach them from the stewpan, from which they should always be very carefully lifted on what is called a fish or _egg-slice_. There are pans made on purpose for poaching and frying them in good form; but they do not, we believe, answer particularly well. If broken into cups slightly rubbed with butter, and simmered in them, their roundness of shape will be best preserved. POACHED EGGS WITH GRAVY. (ENTREMETS.) _Œufs Pochés au Jus._ Dress the eggs as above, giving them as good an appearance as possible, lay them into a very hot dish, and sauce them with some rich, clear, boiling veal gravy, or with some _Espagnole_. Each egg, for variety, may be dished upon a _crouton_ of bread cut with a fluted paste-cutter, and fried a pale brown: the sauce should then be poured round, not over them. Poaching is the best mode of dressing a swan’s egg,[157] as it renders it more than any other delicate in flavour; it is usually served on a bed of spinach. Only the eggs of quite young swans are suited to the table: one is sufficient for a dish. It may be laid on a large _crouton_ of fried bread, and sauced with highly flavoured gravy, or with tomata-sauce well seasoned with eschalots. Footnote 157: We fear that want of space must compel us to omit some other receipts for swans’ eggs, which we had prepared for this chapter. ŒUFS AU PLAT. A pewter or any other metal plate or dish which will bear the fire, must be used for these. Just melt a slice of butter in it, then put in some very fresh eggs broken as for poaching; strew a little pepper and salt on the top of each, and place them over a gentle fire until the whites are quite set, but keep them free from colour. This is a very common mode of preparing eggs on the continent; but there is generally a slight rawness of the surface of the yolks which is in a measure removed by ladling the boiling butter over them with a spoon as they are cooking, though a salamander held above them for a minute would have a better effect. Four or five minutes will dress them. _Obs._—We hope for an opportunity of inserting further receipts for dishes of eggs at the end of this volume. MILK AND CREAM. Without possessing a dairy, it is quite possible for families to have always a sufficient provision of milk and cream for their consumption, provided there be a clean cool larder or pantry where it can be kept. It should be taken from persons who can be depended on for supplying it pure, and if it can be obtained from a dairy near at hand it will be an advantage, as in the summer it is less easy to preserve it sweet when it has been conveyed from a distance. It should be poured at once into well-scalded pans or basins kept exclusively for it, and placed on a _very clean_ and airy shelf, apart from all the other contents of the larder. The fresh milk as it comes in should be set at one end of the shelf, and that for use should be taken from the other, so that none may become stale from being misplaced or overlooked. The cream should be removed with a perforated skimmer (or skimming-dish as it is called in dairy-counties) which has been dipped into cold water to prevent the cream, when thick, from adhering to it. Twelve hours in summer, and twenty-four in winter, will be sufficient time for the milk to stand for “_creaming_,” though it may often be kept longer with advantage. Between two and three pints of really good milk will produce about a quarter of a pint of cream. In frosty weather the pans for it should be warmed before it is poured in. If boiled when first brought in, it will remain sweet much longer than it otherwise would; but it will then be unfit to serve with tea; though it may be heated afresh and sent to table with coffee; and used also for puddings, and all other varieties of milk-diet. DEVONSHIRE, OR CLOTTED CREAM. From the mode adopted in Devonshire, and in some other counties, of scalding the milk in the following manner, the cream becomes very rich and thick, and is easily converted into excellent butter. It is strained into large shallow metal pans as soon as it is brought into the dairy and left for twelve hours at least in summer, and thirty-six in cold weather. It is then gently carried to a hot plate—heated by a fire from below—and brought _slowly_ to a quite scalding heat but without being allowed to boil or even to simmer. When it is ready to be removed, distinct rings appear on the surface, and small bubbles of air. It must then be carried carefully back to the dairy, and may be skimmed in twelve hours afterwards. The cream should be well drained from the milk—which will be very poor—as this is done. It may then be converted into excellent butter, merely by beating it with the hand in a shallow wooden tub, which is, we are informed, the usual manner of making it in small Devonshire dairies. DU LAIT A MADAME. Boil a quart of new milk, and let it cool sufficiently to allow the cream to be taken off; then rinse an earthen jar well in every part with buttermilk, and while the boiled milk is still rather warm, pour it in and add the cream gently on the top. Let it remain twenty-four hours, turn it into a deep dish, mix it with pounded sugar, and it will be ready to serve. This preparation is much eaten abroad during the summer, and is considered very wholesome. The milk, by the foregoing process, becomes a very soft curd, _slightly_, but not at all unpleasantly, acid in flavour. A cover, or thick folded cloth, should be placed on the jar after the milk is poured in, and it should be kept in a moderately warm place. In very sultry weather less time may be allowed for the milk to stand. _Obs._—We give this and the following receipt from an unpublished work which we have in progress, being always desirous to make such information as we possess generally useful as far as we can. CURDS AND WHEY. Rennet is generally prepared for dairy-use by butchers, and kept in farmhouses hung in the chimney corners, where it will remain good a long time. It is the inner stomach of the calf, from which the curd is removed, and which is salted and stretched out to dry on splinters of wood, or strong wooden skewers. It should be preserved from dust and smoke (by a paper-bag or other means), and portions of it cut off as wanted. Soak a small bit in half a teacupful of warm water, and let it remain in it for an hour or two; then pour into a quart of warm new milk a dessertspoonful of the rennet-liquor, and keep it in a warm place until the whey appears separated from the curd, and looks clear. The smaller the proportion of rennet used, the more soft and delicate will be the curd. We write these directions from recollection, having often had the dish thus prepared, but having no memorandum at this moment of the precise proportions used. Less than an inch square of the rennet would be sufficient, we think, for a gallon of milk, if some hours were allowed for it to turn. When _rennet-whey_, which is a most valuable beverage in many cases of illness, is required for an invalid to drink, a bit of the rennet, after being quickly and slightly rinsed, may be stirred at once into the warm milk, as the curd becoming hard is then of no consequence. It must be kept warm until the whey appears and is clear. It may then be strained, and given to the patient to drink, or allowed to become cold before it is taken. In feverish complaints it has often the most benign effect. _Devonshire junket_ is merely a dish or bowl of sweetened curds and whey, covered with the thick cream of scalded milk, for which see page 451. ------------------------------------------------------------------------